La Mothe-en-Bassigny Citadel

A citadel of the Duchy of Lorraine, La Mothe-en-Bassigny was meant to fight back the French invaders. It was destroyed in 1645 and is now a ruin.

It is situated near Neufchâteau, between the villages of Outremécourt and Soulaucourt-sur-Mouzon (Haute-Marne).

History

The citadel was founded in 1258, and soon became an important commercial town with 2,000 inhabitants. In the 17th century, the Duke of Lorraine Charles IV lost all his possessions to cardinal Richelieu except La Mothe. In 1634, the citadel withstood a siege of 141 days before it surrendered on 26 July 1634.

La Mothe was given back to the Duke in 1641. It was besieged three more times: 25 July - 30 August 1642, December 1642 - May 1643 and the last, begun by Mazarin, on 4 December 1644. After 205 days of resistance the city surrendered on 1 July 1645. Contrary to the agreement, Mazarin destroyed not only the fortifications, but the entire city.

This period was always a painful memory in Lorraine. The French authorities were aware of this since France was divided into departments, the border of Haute-Marne made a strange loop to include "La Mothe". This removed an offensive symbol from the territory of Lorraine.

The ruins were classified as an "historical monument" in 1923 and large-scale restoration work was undertaken.

Text imported from Wikipedia article "La Mothe-en-Bassigny" and modified on July 23, 2019 according to the CC-BY-SA 4.0 International license.